Making a Dark Ages character

Dark Ages is built on the 20th Anniversary rules, so the creator walks the same twelve steps: Era, Character Type, Identity, Archetypes, Clan, Attributes, Skills, Disciplines, Backgrounds, Merits & Flaws, Virtues and Summary. Freebie points work the same way too.

Read Making a V20 character, step by step for the full walk. This page covers what's different in Dark Ages.

Era

Pick Dark Ages.

Character Type

The same four types: Kindred, Ghoul, Revenant and Mortal. A Dark Ages vampire is a Cainite and follows a Road. A ghoul or revenant walks every step and a mortal skips Clan and Disciplines, as in 20th Anniversary.

Identity

The Sect field is called Standing here. Ghouls, revenants and mortals don't have it. To write your own choose Custom..., type it and press Enter. Esc puts back what was there. In a chronicle only the storyteller has Custom.

A Dark Ages ghoul has no Allegiance choice. Every Dark Ages ghoul keeps the full 7 Virtue dots.

The roll buttons give period names and concepts like Knight Errant or Troubadour. Roll identity fills in the name, the concept, the ages, the sire and the generation together but it never touches your Standing (High Clan, Low Clan and so on). You set that yourself. Undo puts back whatever the last roll replaced.

Generation runs from 12th to 4th. The Elder band starts at 6th, so a 7th generation character still builds under the normal rules.

Clan

The Dark Ages clans: Assamite, Brujah, Cappadocian, Followers of Set, Gangrel, Lasombra, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Ravnos, Toreador, Tremere, Tzimisce and Ventrue. Caitiff are there too. Cappadocian is a full clan here and Giovanni is one of its bloodlines. The bloodlines include ones that belong to this era, like the Salubri castes, the Baali, the Kiasyd and True Brujah.

Skills (Abilities)

Dark Ages has its own 30 Abilities, ten in each group.

There's no Streetwise, Drive, Firearms, Larceny, Computer, Finance, Science or Technology. Sleight of hand is part of Legerdemain and dodging is part of Athletics. The dot counts and costs match 20th Anniversary.

Disciplines

A Dark Ages vampire gets 4 free Discipline dots. In 20th Anniversary it's 3. Ghouls and revenants get 2. A Dark Ages ghoul pays 7 freebie points for each extra Discipline dot. In 20th Anniversary a ghoul pays 10.

Merits & Flaws

Dark Ages has its own list of Merits and Flaws with its own rules on who can take what. A Merit tied to a clan needs that clan.

Virtues and Roads

A Dark Ages vampire follows a Road. A new vampire starts on the Road of Humanity. Press Change Road to pick another one like the Road of the Beast, the Road of Kings or the Road of Heaven. A Road renames the Virtues it replaces, for example Conviction instead of Conscience or Instinct instead of Self-Control. Each Virtue still starts at one dot.

The side panel shows the Road's Bearing and its Hierarchy of Sins.

Revenants also get the Road picker. Ghouls and mortals don't. A Humanity or Road dot costs 2 freebie points for every type.

Summary

The same as 20th Anniversary: check everything, spend any XP your storyteller gave you and press Save.

In a chronicle

A Dark Ages chronicle builds Dark Ages characters only and skips the Era step. See Make a character for a chronicle.